My advice? If you are going to buy it, get the owner to pull a shot on it for you. Make sure he makes you either a Latte or a Cappuccino to show you that everything works. Watch carefully for leaks or anything that just doesn't sound right. Without seeing it in person, I couldn't recommend it.. but if everything works, that's not a bad deal.

Garbage In, Garbage Out, for every step of the process. From Beans to grinder, grounds to machine, coffee to cup.

Ask about maintanence, descaling and back flushing. If local, check it out in use as suggested. Pull off the top and look in the machine. It should be clean and dry and the wiring look good, no burns or cooked wires.

How many owners?

I do not have experience with the MDF. Hopefully those with experience will post. You can read threads on MDF by searching Gaggia MDF here in CG. Read about steps and fine adjustment.

I read both the links, and the combo seems right what I need. Unfortunatly the gear is on ebay and having a test shot pulled isnt an option. i did email asking about matenince, de scaleing, and whether or not he was the original owner. Waiting to hear back.

The guy emailed me back. He says he got the Classic/MDF set from Whole Latte Love a year ago, and hasn't descaled as he has pulled maybe 40 shots. If it was any of you, would you go for it? Or should I be safe and pay the extra ~200 for new?

I'll comment on a couple of things in your post since I was recently in the same boat as you-

I also had to choose between the Baby Gaggia, Classic, and Twin. When I finally pulled the trigger I made my purchase through WLL and purchased the twin.

Then I re-read the reviews. It seems WLL likes to only put the more positive reviews of it's products on the site. There were plenty complaints about the reliability of the twin. Also, the twin seemed very cheap....there was just something I didn't like about it.

So, I called WLL- they were great on the phone. Changed my order no questions asked and immediately sent me a refund for the difference. The order came at the promised time with no issues and was well packed- double boxed with foam in between. I have nothing bad to say at all about my WLL buying experience other than their reveiws should show both sides...

As far as the classic- I couldn't be happier so far. IMHO the Baby seemed really cheap. I handled it several times at a local Peet's coffee- they seem to carry them in many of their stores. The Baby always just seemed too cheap and plasticy.

Although the Classic probably isn't my "ultimate" machine, it's pretty damned good. The shots have been amazing. The construction is very solid, I like the stainless appearance.

The frothing wand is a bit sucky, but I think that applies to all gaggias. Their plastic attachment is pretty cheesy.

The classic comes with both two pressurized portafilter baskets, and a standard double basket. The pressurized baskets also seem to work with ESE pods if that's your thing.

The used deal you found seems okay but not great. The price of a brand new classic is about 320ish... I'd be a bit weary of used equipment sight unseen without a significant discount or a decent guarantee from the seller.

I wish you the best of luck, feel free to send me any questions that I may be able to answer for you as a new classic owner, and new WLL customer. ;)

Mocha Joe - got my package (Gaggia Classic and Baratza Preciso Package) yesterday after work from WLL. Opened it up and everything was in good shape. Great response time, 2 days from order to my door. I can't give a comprehensive review of the Classic since I'm a bit new to this game. I've had a Delonghi EC155 for a few years, but just recently started using it properly. Anyway, my biggest knock right now is the Gaggia instructions. You get 4 portafilters, but the instructions don't identify which is which. Some of it is common sense in that the one that has no holes is for backflushing, the one with the hourglass shape is for the pods, and then the last two. One has a larger surface area of filter and the other only has the filter area in small area in the center. I assume that the one with the smaller area is the one to be used pressurized. I'm sure this is just common sense to even a beginner, but confirmation would have been nice.

I didn't have any beens to waste prime the new grinder, so I used some preground espresso for the first 2 pulls. Read thru the instructions and which combination of rocker switches needed to be where. Got that down and pulled a few shots. Way too fast, which is telling me the pre-ground is too course. Daughter wanted a latte so I started to steam some milk and the plastic tip blew off the tube. Looked thru the instruction on how to properly assemble and not a lot of info, but as I messed with it, I found that it clamps down to the tube. (again with the instructions) So I got that worked out and it is a lot better than the Delonghi. Went out for dinner last nite, and when we got home, my wife wanted a latte. I put some beans thru the grinder and then got my espresso stash I bought last week at my local warehouse district. Weighed 20g of beans and put them thru the grinder. Pretty cool, although the PF holder just makes a mess IMHO. I'm using the closed container and then to the PF. The shots were pretty good but took long, and the latte came out tasty according to my wife. I didn't steam long enough as the latte came out warm, point noted. This am, I moved the macro adj back one notch and ground another 20g of beans for my morning hit. Tamped it in. Did I mention I'm new to this? I ground a little more coarse, but I guess I tamped a little agressively. I stalled the machine, but it eventually dribbled a single shot. So, this weekend I will be pulling shots, messing with grinder settings and working on my tamping.

Overall the machine looks great, heats up pretty quickly and is pretty easy to use after you get a few pulls under your belt. The use I've got in the past 12 hours has been a little hurried so I'll spend a little more quality time this weekend and hopefully be 'wowed' with a great pull. Good Luck!

Mine only came with the manufacturers directions. Don't get me wrong, it's not rocket science, but it's not as intuitive as it could be. They give you a single sheet, double sided with pictures of the machine, no words. You need this sheet to follow along with the instruction manual. It gets a little cumbersome until you know your way around your machine. I know I sound like I'm whining, (probably am) but I'm good now and I've spent about an hour or so using/playing with the machine. OK, enough of that.

Good idea saving up. My initial inclination from what I've read here and other places was to just purchase a good grinder and continue to use my Delonghi EC155. But, I would have spent $100 (or more) additional if I bought them separately.

Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post

Forum Rules:No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards.No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum.No SEO style postings will be tolerated. SEO related posts will result in immediate ban from CoffeeGeek.No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum.Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards.Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics.Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies.Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies.Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts.Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.